Tua Tagovailoa experienced this offseason what it’s like to be cut from an NFL contract.
The Miami Dolphins set him free in order to save themselves some money and some struggle from having handed out a huge deal that turned out to be a poorly aging decision.
It made sense for Miami: Cutting Tua allowed them to start moving toward a new era.
For Tagovailoa, it also gave him the chance at a fresh start. He signed with the Atlanta Falcons, where he’ll get to play for a solid offensive mind in new head coach Kevin Stefanski. He won the starting job for Week 1 over Michael Penix, as well.
When the Falcons head to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers this weekend, it’ll be Tagovailoa in a familiar role as QB1, even though it’s now in different colors.
The thing is, there are already questions over how long this might last for the former Dolphins quarterback in his new digs.
A Bad Rumor for Tua
Before the opening game of the NFL season on Wednesday night, Pro Football Tlak’s Mike Florio took to the broadcast for NBC and had some shaky news to share.
“If it doesn’t go well for Tua and he gets benched again, I’m told there is a strong possibility the Falcons will do what the Dolphins did and cut Tua Tagovailoa,” Florio said.
It can’t be a good sign that Florio is already hearing such intel before Tagovailoa even gets his first regular season snap for the Falcons.
“If it doesn’t go well for Tua and he gets benched again, I’m told there is a strong possibility the Falcons will do what the Dolphins did and cut Tua Tagovailoa.”
We haven’t even played yet. 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/h1I7xbbOhR
— Carrie (@Carrie_ATL) September 10, 2026
Difference for Falcons
The thing about this Florio rumor that’s a bit hard to make sense of, though, is that it’s not as logical for Atlanta to cut Tagovailoa as it was for Miami.
The Dolphins had a massive cap hit to deal with. The Falcons don’t.
The Falcons also seem to have the benefit at the moment that each of their top-two QBs are left-handed. While that’s usually an added hurdle for an offense to flip from a lefty to a righty, Atlanta wouldn’t have to deal with that problem if Tua and Penix are the two options for Stefanski to choose from.
That’s not to say that Atlanta won’t eventually decide to go in a different direction. It’s very possible that the Falcons’ long-term QB answer isn’t even on the roster right now.
But would cutting Tagovailoa midway through this season accomplish much of anything for Atlanta? From the outside, it certainly doesn’t seem that way.
If it happens, though, it won’t be a first for Tagovailoa. It’ll be something that he starts to get painfully used to.
Dolphins Cutting Tua Tagovailoa Might Be Repeated by Falcons